Ammunition feed device



Nov. 13, 1945. G, w D WNER 2,388,958

AMMUNITION FEED DEVICE Filed April 9, 1943 Patented Nov. 13, 1945 AMMUNITION FEED DEVICE Gerald W. Downer, deceased, late of Beverly, Mass, by Harold E. Murphy, administrator, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Ma chinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 9,1943, Serial No. 482,457

1 Claim.

This invention relates to automatic guns and more particularly to devices for continuously feeding ammunition to flexibly mounted machine guns. Such guns are often mounted in a manner to permit movement of the gun in elevation, about a horizontal pivot, an ammunition container sometimes being mounted directly upon the gun carrier in such a manner that the container moves with the gun unit as an integral component thereof during all movements of the gun, thus providing for unobstructed movement of the linked cartridge belt from the container into the cartridge-receiving port of the gun. This manner of supporting the ammunition container is practical only when a small container is used and, consequently, the quantity of ammunition available for continuous use in the gun is seriously restricted'.

If the ammunition container is supported apart from the gun, and does not have to move with the latter, it becomes possible to use a much larger container, holding a large supply of ammunition. However, when the container does not partake of the movement of the gun the container must be spaced from the gun sufficiently to permit the cartridge belt to be twisted through the angle required for the maximum elevation or depression of the gun without distorting the belt in the regions of exit from the container and entrance into the gun to such an extent as to interfere with the progress of the belt in the manner necessary for proper operation of the gun.

When the pivot about which the gun moves is remote from the cartridge receiver of the gun the receiver moves through a considerable distance and a section of cartridge belt of considerable length is suspended in the air between the container and the gun when the gun is at certain angles of elevation. When the receiving port of the gun is below the outlet of the container the weight of this suspended section of the belt tends to pull more and more of the belt out of the container, forming an undesirable, long, heavy, sagping loop.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for s selectively controlling a cartridge belt emerging from a container that a retarding force will be automatically exerted upon the belt when it sags downward but not when it is lifted upward, as it will be when the receiving port of the gun is elevated above the outlet of the container, since it is not desirable to impose any additional load upon the cartridge feed mechanism in the gun when it is lifting the weight of a section of the belt.

As shown herein there has been provided an automatically selective retarding device comprising a spring. pressed detent disposed beneath the belt near the container outlet in such a position that it will engage the under side of the belt and retard the outward movement of the latter when the belt sags, but not when it is lifted. This is effective in preventing the belt from running out of the container too fast when the receiver of the gun is in a low position, at which time the feed mechanism in the gun does not have to lift any substantial portion of the belt, but is ineffective when the receiver is high and the feed mechanism is lifting the weight of the cartridges in the free loop of the belt.

The above and other features and advantages of the invention will be readily understood and appreciated from the following description of a practical embodiment thereof when read in con nection with the accompanying drawing, in which,

Fig. l is a view in elevation, with parts broken away, of an ammunition feed device embodying the invention and arranged in cooperative relation to a machine gun; and,

Fig. 2 is a view upon an enlarged scale of the cartridge belt retarding device.

Referring now to the drawing, a large capacity ammunition container ll) of a known type is rigidly supported upon a stationary standard l2. This container may, for example, be similar to the one disclosed in United States Patent No. 1,808,106, granted June 2, 1931, to Samuel G, Green. The container comprises a body portion l4 and a hinged cover l6. An outlet opening I8 is provided in the side of the container and the cartridge belt 20, which is partly carried by a reel 22 and partly lies in folds in the body It], emerges from the outlet opening l8 whence the belt is fed to the receiver 24 of a machine gun 26. A pawl l9 over the outlet opening l8 prevents return movement of a belt which has been partially withdrawn from the container.

The gun 2B is flexibly mounted for elevation adjustments to positions in which the receiver 24 is lower than the outlet opening l8, as shown in solid lines in Fig. 1, or higher than said outlet opening as shown in dotted lines above.

It will be apparent that when the receiver of the gun is in the lower position the section 28 of the belt which extends between the outlet opening l8 and the gun will sag in the form of a loop and, inasmuch as it is necessary that the container Ill be spaced a substantial distance laterally from the gun in order to obviate the necessity of an undesirable amount of twisting or kinking of the belt when the gun is'moved up or down, there will be a considerable weight of ammunition tending to pull more and more of the belt out of the container, with a resulting tendency to form a, long hanging loop, as illustrated at 30. Of course, the longer this loop becomes the greater is'its weight and consequent tendency to pull more of the belt from the container. Still worse is the effect of the additional weight upon the cartridge feeding mechanism in the gun, the firing rate of which will be slowed down or even completely stopped.

In order to avoid these drawbacks, the container I is provided just beneath the outlet opening [,8 with a downwardly directed cartridge belt guide 32 which is arranged to support and guide a sagging cartridge belt emerging from the outlet opening and which is provided with aslot 34 (Fig. 2) through which projects the nose 36 of a yieldingly supported detent or retarding device 38 which is pivotally mounted at 40 in a bracket 44 secured to the wall of the container 10.

Theretarding device 38 is urged upward by a compression spring 46 acting against its under side. and supported by a stationary shelf 48. The tail 50 of the retarding device 38 moves in a slot 52 inthe shelf-48 and the limit of upward movement of the nose 36 through the slot 34 in the guide 32 is determined by engagement of th tail 50 with the outer end of the slot 52.

Normally, the nose 36 of the retarding device projects above the surface of the guide 32 a sufficient distance into the path of the moving cartridges, one of which is shown at 54 in Fig. 2, to have enough retarding efiect upon the cartridge belt'to prevent it from running out of the container and forming a long, sagging loop. The supporting force of the spring 46, however, is

such that the restraining effect of the retarding device upon the belt is only sufiicient to sustain the latter in an easy, natural curve, about asshown in the solid line position of the belt in Fig. 1, but is not sufiicient to impose any substantial additional load upon the cartridge feeding mechanism in the gun while the gun is being fired.

Obvoiusly, when the gun is elevated to the high position shown in dotted; lines ,in Fig. 1, which is above the outlet opening in the ammunition container, most of the weight of the section of belt between the container and the gun is sustained by the gun and it is undesirable to impose any additional load upon the cartridge feeding mechanism thereof. This condition is automatically taken care of by the lifting of the belt out of engagement with the retarding device. The retarding device may thus be said. to be selective in its action in that it exerts a retarding effect upon the cartridge belt when the latter 7 sags but not when it is lifted.

said support terminating at a substantial distance from the gun," and an upwardly springpressed detent projecting through a, descending portion of the support sufliciently to engage a belt resting upon the support, said gun being flexibly mounted for elevation adjustments to positions in which the cartridge receiver of the gun is higher and lower than said outlet opening, whereby a cartridge belt moving from the container to the gun will be lifted away from the detent when said receiver is elevated above said outlet opening.

' HAROLD E. MURPHY, Administrator of the Estate of Gerald W. Downer,

Deceased. 

